Civil War, U.S.

Confederate Actions

Initially, the Confederacy heavily borrowed from the federal regulations and practices they knew. One practice was to subscribe to Union newspapers under a false identity, and these newspapers provided a great deal of information in the early months of the war. Newspapers initially carried information about troop movements and other rumors. Soon, the combination of martial law in some areas and the realization that most of the information was not only dated, but untrue, led to a change of tactics.

The Confederacy established the Signal Bureau in 1862 to handle military intelligence. Prior to its establishment, the Confederacy relied on information provided by people such as Lt. Col. Thomas Jordan and others who were stationed in Washington, D.C., before the war. Jordan served as the assistant adjutant general for Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard after the war began. Prior to his departure to join the Confederacy, Jordan established a network of informants in Washington, D.C., who helped the Confederates win the First Battle of Bull Run.

The Confederacy created a series of agencies under the umbrella of the Secret Service. Special missions and their respective agents reported to Judah Benjamin under the State Department of Secret Service. The War Department worked with field commanders and the Signal Bureau to get information to commands and to Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Virginia. The War Department Torpedo Bureau and Navy Submarine Battery Service oversaw the planting of land mines and underwater mines in rivers and harbors. The Greenhow Group was an espionage organization based out of Washington, D.C., which supported the Army of Northern Virginia throughout the war, despite the arrest of some of its operatives, such as the spy Rose Greenhow. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart recruited and trained a group of cavalry scouts to keep him informed about enemy movements. These scouts also reported to Gen. Robert E. Lee, who relied upon their information until Stuart's death impacted their effectiveness. A final group under the Secret Service was the operatives who worked in Canada during the latter part of the war. While not an official organization, these agencies did a great deal to contribute to the early success of the Confederacy.

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